Rust Development

SkillDev tools

This skill should be used when working with Rust code, reviewing Rust code, managing Rust dependencies, creating Rust projects, or fixing Rust compilation errors. It provides strict coding standards (especially FAIL FAST error handling), workspace architecture guidance, dependency management automation, and common Rust patterns.

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the Rust Development skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by onsails/skills in rust-dev/skills/rust-dev/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Runtime dispatch

Detect the runtime once, before the workflow:

  • Claude Code (Agent, AskUserQuestion, and Skill tools available) → read runtime-claude.md.
  • OMP (task and ask tools available, with skill://… readable through read) → read skill://rust-dev/runtime-omp.md.
  • Any other tool surface → stop and report that this skill has no dispatch table for the runtime.

The selected file is a prompt asset, not a role declaration. Its implementation and review labels name the exact runtime subagent arguments. If a named agent is unavailable, stop before delegation: never substitute the generic task or general-purpose agent and never implement delegated work inline.

Workflow

For any non-trivial Rust change:

  1. Discover project guidelines — Read CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md (in repo root and .claude/, .cursor/, .codex/ subdirs), rustfmt.toml, clippy.toml, .clippy.toml, deny.toml, and [workspace.lints] / [lints] sections in Cargo.toml. These rules apply in addition to Core Rules below.

  2. Implement — Delegate through the runtime dispatch table's implementation entry. It rediscovers guidelines, implements, then verifies its own work with cargo clippy --workspace --tests -- -D warnings and cargo test --workspace before reporting done.

  3. Review — Delegate through the dispatch table's review entry after implementation completes. This is mandatory, not optional. Convert findings into TODOs: critical/warning → fix; suggestions → triage.

  4. Fix issues one by one — Delegate each fix through the implementation entry. Do not batch unrelated fixes into one delegation.

  5. Final build — Run cargo build --workspace directly.

Core Rules

  1. Edition 2024: Always edition = "2024" in Cargo.toml
  2. FAIL FAST: Every error MUST propagate with ? or return Err. Logging is NOT handling. See error-handling.md
  3. Dependency versions: Use x.x format (e.g., serde = "1.0"). Find latest with python3 scripts/check_crate_version.py <crate>
  4. Workspace architecture: Root Cargo.toml defines workspace only. Separate crates for lib/cli/client
  5. Error types: thiserror (with backtrace) for libraries, anyhow for binaries/tests
  6. CLI-first config: Never bypass CLI args. Use from_cli_args(), never Default that reads env
  7. No env::set_var in tests: Pass config through function parameters
  8. Async: Use tokio consistently
  9. Visibility: Private (default) > pub(crate) > pub
  10. No magic numbers: Use const or CLI args

Adding Dependencies

  1. Run python3 scripts/check_crate_version.py <crate-name> to find latest version
  2. Add to [workspace.dependencies] in root Cargo.toml with x.x format
  3. Reference in member crates: serde = { workspace = true }

Common deps: thiserror = "2.0", anyhow = "1.0", tokio = { version = "1", features = ["full"] }, serde = { version = "1.0", features = ["derive"] }, clap = { version = "4.5", features = ["derive"] }

Creating New Projects

Use the template in assets/workspace-template/:

project/
├── Cargo.toml              # Workspace root, no code
├── project/                # Library crate (thiserror)
│   ├── Cargo.toml
│   └── src/lib.rs
└── project-cli/            # Binary crate (anyhow + clap)
    ├── Cargo.toml
    └── src/main.rs

Module Organization

Split modules when file exceeds ~500 lines or tests take 50%+ of file. See module-organization.md for patterns.

Error Handling

The most critical standard. See error-handling.md for full rules and examples.

Quick check: If you see if let Err or match ... Err without return Err or ?, it's a bug.

References

Scripts

  • scripts/check_crate_version.py — Query crates.io for latest dependency versions

Signals

GitHub stars
43
Forks
3
Last commit
Aug 2026
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
rust-dev-onsails
Source
github.com/onsails/skills